DAVAO CITY—The Philippine agriculture sector incurred as much as $4 billion in losses due to natural disasters, such as typhoons and drought, in the last decade, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Despite this, the FAO said in a statement that the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) has yet to acquire technology that would improve its weather-forecasting capability.
“The right information at the right time is the agriculture sector’s best defense against disasters and climate change. Our work with Pagasa is, therefore, very crucial to the success of our larger strategy for disaster risk reduction and management and climate-change adaptation for agriculture,” said José Luis Fernández, FAO representative in the Philippines.
The FAO said the Pagasa of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) “is increasing its access to advanced weather and climate-information products”.
“The decision-support information and tools produced through our joint efforts form the basis of plans, policies, operations and actions that will significantly influence the future of the country’s food and nutrition security, and its battle against poverty and climate change,” Fernandez said.
The UN unit said it has worked with Pagasa since 2011 “to develop forecasts, projections, farm-level advisories, early warning systems and tools that support climate-smart
agriculture practices”.
“One of the major milestones of the partnership is the recent launch of climate-change projections based on the latest climate models, which are being provided to different planning institutions of the government and the private sector, among others. These include rainfall and temperature projections from 2020 to 2079,” the FAO added.
The FAO said the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) regional field offices and local government units (LGUs) have recently developed short- and long-range climate forecasts to serve as “vital resource for farmers and fishermen”.
Pagasa had also generated nine-day climate forecasts to support farmer operations in over 100 municipalities nationwide.
The FAO said these efforts were funded by the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid Department and Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
“Pagasa, through this development partnership with FAO Philippines, has shown that weather and climate information and products can be mainstreamed and localized with the support of LGUs, national and regional government agencies and academic institutions,”
Pagasa Administrator Vicente Malano said.
“The FAO has also appreciated Pagasa for issuing quick and timely early warnings, especially for populations such as upland farmers and indigenous people who live in vulnerable ecosystems highly susceptible to heavy rains and flooding,” Malano added. In the case of aquaculture producers, the FAO said it provided funding and technical support to the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) “to enhance the resilience of the aquaculture sector”.
“Several climate information products and manuals on the impact management of weathers systems have been developed to support the production of at least 11 aquaculture commodities. This covers, among others, cage and pond cultured tilapia, milkfish, grouper, seaweed, shellfish, shrimp and crab,” it said.